In Hebrew, the word Shalom means “hello” and “goodbye” (also “peace”, but I digress). I remember as a kid thinking it was kind of weird for a word to have more than one definition, especially two polar opposite ones. How were you to know if someone was coming or going? Are they saying, “Shalom, I just got here” or “Shalom, I am on my way out the door?”
But recently I realized that “Shalom” is actually a perfect word. As the saying goes, “When one door closes, another one opens”. In a few weeks my oldest daughter will be graduating high school and closing a very heavy door.
She will be saying goodbye, to the town she has lived in her whole life, to the school she has attended for four years, to her friends – some of which she has had since pre-school playgroup, and of course, to us, her parents. The mom and dad that brought her home eighteen years ago at 7 lbs 11 ounces and thought, “OMG, What are we doing? I cannot believe they just cut the hospital bracelet off her tiny little wrist and allowed this precious baby to go home with two people who love her more than they ever thought possible and yet, have NO idea how to take care of a baby!”
It was a whole new world for us being parents. Considering we had no formal training, I think we did a pretty good job. We remembered to feed her and burp her and to swaddle and change her. We watched Barney together, sang and danced to the Wiggles and read, “Good Night Moon” until our brains were fried and our lips were numb. We held her hand when she took her first steps and came running with the Band Aids when she took her first fall. We stayed up all night with her when she was sick and let her crawl into bed with us when she had a bad dream. We enrolled her in school and in soccer clinics and dance classes. We cheered her on at recitals and games and helped her with homework (until the math got too hard for us).
Together, along with her two siblings, we created a family. We shared lots of good times, some bad times, tears and tons of laughs. And although we will always be a family, in a few months we won’t be a family where everyone lives together. Sure, my daughter will come home throughout the years – for school breaks, holidays and summer vacations etc. It is going to be really hard seeing her bed empty most nights and I know we’ll miss having her here full-time.
However, like the word shalom, this goodbye is also a “hello”. She is opening an exciting new door. She is off to college, in a new town, in a new state, where new and great things are in store for her. She worked really hard throughout high school and I am happy for her to have achieved her goals. She’ll get to say “Hello” to new professors, have an opportunity to make friends from all over the world and embark of new adventures. And I look forward to her saying hello to us a lot too – by phone or Skype – keeping us well informed on how our baby is doing in her new world.
“Shalom” – Hello and Goodbye – it is actually a perfect word. Sometimes it seems like my daughter just got here and yet it is time for her to leave already. But the door to the family house is never closed- merely ajar, waiting for those precious days when our baby comes home to visit and says, “Hi Mom, I’m home!”
The post Shalom – Saying Goodbye and Hello at the Same Time appeared first on TeenLife.